Effectiveness of a multi-disciplinary family-based programme for treating childhood obesity (the Family Project)

To determine if a multi-component family focused education package is more effective than a waiting list control group in treating overweight and obese children.

A 2-year randomised controlled trial; 65 overweight and obese children aged 6-14 years were allocated to active intervention in either the first or second year, with body composition monitoring alone in the control period. Anthropometric measurements were undertaken at six monthly intervals and a 7-day food and activity diary were issued.

Over the 2 years of the study body mass index (BMI) SDS (z score) fell significantly in the intervention/control (I/C) group, but not in the control/intervention (C/I) group. The difference between groups was 0.3, which was borderline significant (95% confidence interval (95% CI) -0.62 to 0.02, P=0.06) before adjusting for potential confounding factors. Thirty-three percent of the I/C group and 12% of the C/I group achieved the target reduction of 0.5 BMI SDS. The I/C group had a significantly greater reduction in the percentage with a BMI above the 99.6th centile at 24 months (P=0.04) and gained 5.7 kg less over the time of the study. There were no significant differences between groups for mean percentage attendance at physical activity sessions (I/C group=24.1%, 95% CI, 15.4-32.9; C/I group=31.7%, 95% CI, 22.4-41.1, P=0.229).

Children given active intervention followed by body composition monitoring alone reduced their BMI SDS, and fewer children were classified as grossly overweight by the end of the study. If these findings are true, there are important implications for the provision of services managing overweight in the community.